The College of New Jersey is one of only 145 universities and colleges around the world to be honored by Exercise is Medicine program for creating a culture of wellness on its campus.

The college earned a silver-level designation for engaging students, faculty, and staff in education initiatives and exercise as part of the daily campus culture.

“The goal of the EIM program in general is to engage in activities that would benefit people’s health including lowering body weight, body fat, blood pressure, and blood variables like cholesterol,” said Jill Bush, a kinesiology and health sciences professor and director of the EIM program at TCNJ. “We aim to engage young people in a lifelong journey to be physically active.”

Exercise is Medicine is a community-impact initiative of the American College of Sports Medicine that calls upon universities and colleges to promote physical activity as a vital sign of health and encourages faculty, staff, and students to work together to improve the health and well-being of the campus community.  

Among other initiatives, Bush works with her students on educating athletes participating in the New Jersey Special Olympics about the importance of nutrition, hydration, and exercise and launched the KHS Semester Challenge, where students visit her research lab where for a battery of clinical measures like body fat analysis, muscle strength, flexibility, resting heart rate and blood pressure, and body weight.

“The KHS Challenge is very personal to me as it arose following my last yearly physical where my doctor was not particularly happy with my blood variables like cholesterol and blood pressure,” Bush said. “I told the KHS students my personal story and the journey that I wanted to take this semester and asked if they wanted to join me. At first, I thought maybe 20 students would join but we have 104 students enrolled in the challenge.”

KHS students are also engaged in activities like the annual campus Wellness Expo and organizing activities at the campus outdoor Fitness Court.  

EIM will officially recognize the college with the silver status honor on May 29 at the EIM recognition ceremony during ACSM’s Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

— Luke Sacks